Electromechanical batteries (EMB) have been considered as alternative energy storage systems in the automotive industry. Generally, an EMB, such as a flywheel has been used to store energy with the use of an electric motor. Traditional flywheel electromechanical batteries include an electric motor which spins a rotor at high rotational speeds to store energy and the energy is then discharged by driving an electric generator with the spinning flywheel when power is needed. The rotor can be rotated within a housing unit through a combination of electrical current and magnets. One problem with high rotational speed spinning rotors being used to store energy relates to failure modes, where the electromechanical battery is subject to being impacted during a collision, or where a spinning rotor fails for some other reason. The high rotation speed of the rotor stores a large amount of stored energy and consequently requires safeguards for disposal or dissipation of the stored residual energy. This residual energy needs to be quickly released and absorbed almost immediately in response to failure of the electromechanical battery.
Examples of electromechanical batteries and flywheels as energy storage are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,902; U.S. Pat. No. 8,134,264; U.S. Pat. No. 7,541,783; U.S. Pat. No. 6,753,619; U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,490; U.S. Pat. No. 8,698,365; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,993 which are incorporated herein by reference. The patents generally disclose how to provide an electric current to an array of magnets to provide rotation of a rotor within a housing unit, how to store energy, and discharge energy.